When you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you can typically seek compensation for those injuries. The damages you typically can receive are economic damages such as medical bills and non-economic damages such as pain and suffering. However, it can sometimes be hard to calculate how much money someone can receive for pain and suffering. So from a legal perspective, what is pain and suffering, how do you prove it, and how is it calculated?
The legal term “pain and suffering” is used to describe the compensation someone receives for the physical pain, mental anguish, and or decreased ability to enjoy life as a result of the wrongful actions of another person. Physical pain and suffering is the pain of your actual injuries. Mental pain and suffering is the mental anguish a person suffers, such as anxiety, fear, anger, shock, and humiliation. It also includes the loss of ability to enjoy life, including sleep disturbances, lack of energy, loss of appetitie, and inability to engage in hobbies. Essentially, mental pain and suffering is considered to be any negative emotion that is a result of having physical pain from an accident.
Pain and suffering is a very difficult thing to prove since you cannot generally “see” pain in a person which makes it hard to quantify someone’s pain. It can still be hard to determine the severity of the pain, even if no one is questioning it. Everyone is different, and we all have a different threshold of pain.
The more evidence that you have to prove that you are injured, the easier it will be to recover a satisfactory amount of compensation. Proving pain and suffering can take shape in many forms. Medical records, photographs, and personal notes about your physical and emotional feelings in relation to your injury are beneficial in proving pain and suffering. Oftentimes, it is helpful to show proof that a mental health professional treated you if you experienced injuries such as insomnia, depression, or anxiety. Sometime’s documentation from family members can be used to show how the injury has impacted your life.
There is no one way to calculate pain and suffering, and the amount of money available is subjective. The amount of money you can receive for pain and suffering often depends on the amount of medical bills you have as well as any anticipated future medical costs and lost wages. However, these costs are not the only thing that is used to determine the amount of pain and suffering you can get. For example, while your medical bills may be covered, it doesn’t take into account the pain of never being able to carry your child again.
If you were injured due to someone’s negligence, then you have the right to receive compensation for your pain and suffering. Contact an Eason & Tambornini car accident today.
